SEAT Leon Cross Sport REVEALED – it’s a VW Golf R on stilts: Frankfurt 2015

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The SEAT Leon Cross Sport has been revealed at the Geneva Motor Show as a high-riding Leon Cupra with the underpinnings from the Volkswagen Golf R.

Last week we had a tease for the SEAT Leon Cross Sport Concept, and we surmised it would basically be a high-riding Leon Cupra crossover as SEAT attempts to find a route to the crossover market ahead of its SUV onslaught. And, basically, that’s what the Leon Cross Sport is.

Looked at another way, the Leon Cross Sport is a VW Golf R – complete with 296bhp 2.0 litre turbo, Haldex 4WD and a DSG gearbox – with a raised ride height and the skin of a Cupra 290.

That means this high-riding Leon can tackle a bit of the rough stuff and show an awful lot of hatches a clean pair of heels with its 0-62mph sprint of just 4.9 seconds, which could be something of a hoot on a gravel track.

We’re not completely convinced SEAT are showing the Leon Cross Sport as a preview of a production model, but are gathering feedback to see if it has legs.

We’d love to see it – preferably not with the orange paint job – as a high-riding Cupra 290, but what’s far more likely is that SEAT will deliver a range of Cross Sport models with more prosaic engines and front-wheel-drive, if it ever makes the market.

Which would be a bit of a shame.